This invention relates generally to electronic devices. More particularly, this invention relates to electronic devices comprising a filled dielectric interspersed between two electrodes.
Electronic devices such as capacitors and field effect transistors typically have a dielectric layer interspersed between two or more electrodes. It is well established that a pinhole-free dielectric is critical for proper device performance and reliability, and much work has been published in the prior art to insure that the dielectric layers are of the highest quality. Field effect transistors (FETs) are transistors in which the resistance of the current path from source to drain is modulated by applying a transverse electric field between grid or gate electrodes. The electric field varies the thickness of the depletion layer between the gates, thereby modifying the conductance. An FET as generally practiced in the prior art has a gate electrode situated on a substrate, a gate dielectric layer is disposed on the gate electrode, a semiconductor layer used as an active layer of the transistor is formed on the gate dielectric layer, and source and drain electrodes are formed on the semiconductor layer. Organic field effect transistors (OFETs) utilize an organic semiconductor layer, such as polythiophene compounds, in place of conventional inorganic semiconducting materials. Capacitors employ a variety of different types of dielectric materials layered between two electrodes to achieve the desired capacitance. Usually, the layering of electrode and dielectric is repeated numerous times to create a multilayered structure. In both these devices, any pinholes, voids, or apertures in the dielectric layer would obviously impair the performance of the device by allowing electric current to leak between the various electrodes, and further, in FETs and OFETs, these voids create channels that the semiconductor and/or the conducting electrode can diffuse into, so painstaking effort and significant expense is expended to insure that the dielectric layers are as pinhole-free and as nearly perfect as possible. It would be a significant contribution to the art if electronic devices could be made using dielectric layers that have voids or pinholes in them and still maintain the low cost and extremely high quality and reliability that we have come to expect.